The winners of the IABNZ Awards 2018 were announced at a gala event held at the MOTAT Aviation Hall on 30 August 2018. The Awards recognise and applaud the champions of the interactive media sales industry.

Now in its second year, the IABNZ was pleased to host yet another successful event, with a record number of entries received.

With a strong focus on New Zealand publishers, the Awards programme celebrates the stars of interactive media sales and advertising operations across a broad range of categories.

The winners of the Ad-Sales Excellence categories were:

‘Mobile Sales’ - Michael Buhagiar, Big Mobile

‘Display Sales’ - Mel Graham, MetService

‘Video Sales’ - James Rogal, MediaWorks

‘Search Sales’ - Steve Crowe, This Side Up

The winners of the Ad-Operations Excellence were:

‘Junior Award’ - Charlotte Startin, NZME

‘Senior Award’ - Christine Jones, Stuff

This year saw the introduction of a number of new award categories and the winners were:

‘Digital Agency of the Year’ - Acquire Online

‘Trading Desk of the Year’ - Acquire Online

‘Rising Star Award’ - Harry Sturt, Sense Data

‘IABNZ Council Member of the Year’ - Roger Shakes, NZ Media Tech Partners, for his outstanding contribution to the Mobile Advertising Council

‘Best Use of Video’, which attracted the most entries, was won jointly by ‘BNZ - The Hardest Working Video’ campaign from Mediacom/TVNZ, and ‘Sensodyne - The Morning Brush Up’ campaign from Stuff NZ

Reflecting the importance of creatives behind the sales, the awards also included four digitally-led Creative Categories, and the winners were:

‘Best Use of Mobile’ - Sense Data/FCB

‘Best Use of Data’ - This Side Up

‘Best Use of Native’ - NZME

‘Best Use of Video’ - won jointly by Mediacom/TVNZ, and Stuff

The ‘Digital Product of the Year’ award went to Trade Me for their Customer Insights Data tool.

The ‘Service to Industry Award’ went to Michael Te Young, of FutureYou. Te Young says, “I’m honoured to win this award. It’s been a real ride being part of the industry from the early Dot Com days to what it is now. This is truly a people industry, and I can’t emphasise how important it is for companies to be perpetually investing in the development and wellbeing of its staff; to plan for the skills they require and to take their people on that journey because it's undoubtedly people that are the most fulfilling aspect of our work lives".

'Service to Industry' winner Michael Te Young of Future You

The ‘Grand Prix’ winner, the best of the best on the night, was also announced. Charlotte Startin from NZME won this award and she receives an all-expenses paid trip to Barcelona, Spain in February 2019 to attend the Mobile World Congress.

Of her win Charlotte said “It is such an honour to win the Grand Prix award and I am excited to attend the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona. Not only is it an incredible city, the chance to learn from world leaders in this industry will be invaluable. I am looking forward to absorbing as much information as possible and meeting colleagues from forward-thinking companies across the world and sharing the experiences with IAB members when I get back.”

'Grand Prix' winner Charlotte Startin from NZME

Laura Maxwell, Chief Digital Officer at NZME and IABNZ Chair for the past three years took the opportunity at the Awards to announce that she has stepped down as Chair, however remaining as a Board member and that Rhys Heron, Managing Director at Mi9 NZ, and an IABNZ Board Member and Chair of its Mobile Advertising Council, will step into the role of Chair. Maxwell also announced that after four years as IAB CEO, Adrian Pickstock was leaving to focus on his consultancy business, with Gill Stewart taking over as CEO.

Maxwell said, “I would like to take this opportunity to thank Adrian Pickstock for his tenure as CEO of IABNZ, as he has decided to focus fully on his own business. Adrian has raised the profile of the interactive advertising ecosystem in New Zealand and facilitated the development of the new revenue reporting that more accurately reflects apportionment of revenue. I’d like to extend a warm welcome to incoming CEO Gill Stewart. Gill brings with her a wealth of experience in senior roles, including CEO of The New Zealand Marketing Association and General Manager of The Radio Bureau. We are excited about this next phase of the IAB and can’t wait for Gill to get her feet under the desk and for Rhys to lead the Board.

The IABNZ Awards 2018 was proudly supported by principal sponsor:

The IABNZ Awards 2018 was proudly supported by Category Sponsors:

The IABNZ Awards 2018 After Party was proudly supported by sponsor, Digital Marketing Platform provider Lotame, also held at the MOTAT Aviation Hall.

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The winners of the IABNZ Awards 2018 dinner were announced at glittering gala event held at MOTAT on August 30. The IABNZ Awards recognizes and applauds the champions of the interactive media sales industry. Read more…

15th April 2015

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